Odd Thomas: You Are Destined to Be Together Forever

Amid the dizzying rides, tantalizing games of chance, and fanciful attractions of a state fair, two teenage sweethearts on the cusp of life and love's pleasures find their way to a shadowy carnival tent brimming with curiosities. There, from the bizarre and enthralling Gypsy Mummy, a mechanized merchant of dreams and prognosticator of tomorrows, the young couple learns what fate promises for them. But fate, for Odd Thomas and Stormy Llewellyn, is something altogether different: full of dark corners, sharp edges, and things no seer or soothsayer could ever anticipate.

The Stranger

The Stranger appears out of nowhere, perhaps in a bar or a parking lot or at the grocery store. His identity is unknown. His motives are unclear. His information is undeniable. Then he whispers a few words in your ear and disappears, leaving you picking up the pieces of your shattered world.

Ashes to Ashes

He performs his profane ceremony in a wooded Minneapolis park, anointing his victims, then setting the bodies ablaze. He has already claimed three lives, and he won't stop there. Only this time there is a witness. But she isn't talking. Enter Kate Conlan, former FBI agent turned victim/witness advocate. Not even she can tell if the reluctant witness is a potential victim or something more troubling still.

Charade

A medical miracle gave TV personality Cat Delaney more than a new heart. It gave her a second chance at life. After leaving Hollywood to host a San Antonio TV show spotlighting children with special needs, Cat fights to gain respect as a newscaster. She meets Alex Pierce, an ex-cop turned crime writer, who regards her as a woman, not as a heart patient. When fatal “accidents” begin killing the other heart recipients, Alex may – or may not – be her most important ally.

The Beast of Barcroft

Ben McKelvie believes he's moving up in the world when he and his fiancée buy a house in the cushy Washington, DC, suburb of Barcroft. Instead he's moving down - way down - thanks to Madeleine Roux, the crazy neighbor whose vermin-infested property is a permanent eyesore and looming hazard to public health. First Ben's fiancée leaves him; then his dog dies, apparently killed by a predator drawn into Barcroft by Madeleine's noxious menagerie. But the worst is yet to come for Ben.

Tell No Lies

The scion of an old-money San Francisco family, Daniel Brasher left his well-paying, respectable money-manager position to marry his community organizer wife and work at a job he loves, leading group counseling sessions with recently paroled violent offenders. One night he finds an envelope - one intended for someone else that was placed in his office mailbox by accident. Inside is an unsigned piece of paper, a handwritten note that says, "Admit what you've done or you will bleed for it."

The Liar

Shelby Foxworth lost her husband. Then she lost her illusions.... The man who took her from Tennessee to an exclusive Philadelphia suburb left her in crippling debt. He was an adulterer and a liar, and when Shelby tracks down his safe-deposit box, she finds multiple IDs. The man she loved wasn't just dead. He never really existed.

Deep Freeze

Former movie star Jenna Hughes left Hollywood for an isolated farm in Oregon to get away from fame. But someone has followed her-an obsessed fan whose letters are personal and deeply disturbing. While Jenna’s already shaken up by what she’s seen on paper, she’d be terrified if she knew what Sheriff Shane Carter is investigating. It’s a shocking case that started with the discovery of a dead woman in the woods.

Lightning

A storm struck on the night Laura Shane was born, and there was a strangeness about the weather that people would remember for years. But even more mysterious was the blond-haired stranger who appeared out of nowhere - the man who saved Laura from a fatal delivery. Years later - after another bolt of lightning - the stranger returned.

Whiskey Sour: A Jacqueline 'Jack' Daniels Mystery

Lieutenant Jacqueline "Jack" Daniels is having a bad week. Her live-in boyfriend has left her for his personal trainer, chronic insomnia has caused her to max out her credit cards with late-night home shopping purchases, and a frightening killer who calls himself "The Gingerbread Man" is dumping mutilated bodies in her district.

Game Changer

What if it were possible to upload years of knowledge into your mind in hours? To become an expert in multiple scientific fields, become an MD, or learn several languages - in a single day? The benefit to humanity would be immense. But so would the danger.... Rachel Howard is a brilliant neuroscientist trying to make this capability a reality. But when she crosses paths with Kevin Quinn, a Secret Service agent desperately trying to kill the president, she finds herself at the epicenter of an insidious plot.

The Beekeeper's Apprentice, or On the Segregation of the Queen: Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes, Book 1

In 1915, Sherlock Holmes is retired and quietly engaged in the study of honeybees when a young woman literally stumbles into him on the Sussex Downs. Fifteen years old, gawky, egotistical, and recently orphaned, the young Mary Russell displays an intellect to impress even Sherlock Holmes - and match him wit for wit. Under his reluctant tutelage, this very modern 20th-century woman proves a deft protégée and a fitting partner for the Victorian detective.

Darkness Under the Sun

There once was a killer who knew the night, its secrets and rhythms. How to hide within its shadows. When to hunt. He roamed from town to town, city to city, choosing his prey for their beauty and innocence. His cruelties were infinite, his humanity long since forfeit. But still... he had not yet discovered how to make his special mark among monsters, how to come fully alive as Death. This is the story of how he learned those things, and of what we might do to ensure that he does not visit us.

The Dogs of War

Knocking off a bank or an armored truck is merely crude. Knocking off an entire republic has, I feel, a certain style." So says mining magnate Sir James Manson, a shadowy titan of London's financial district, who is scheming a coup d'état in the small West African dictatorship of Zangaro, where a secret source of platinum lies waiting to be exploited.

Crocodile on the Sandbank: The Amelia Peabody Series, Book 1

Amelia Peabody embarks on her first Egyptian adventure armed with unshakable self-confidence, a journal for her thoughts, and, of course, a sturdy umbrella. On her way, she rescues Evelyn Barton-Forbes, who has been "ruined" and abandoned on the streets of Rome by her lover. With a typical disregard for convention, Amelia promptly hires her fellow countrywoman as a companion and takes her to Cairo, where strange visitations and a botched kidnapping convince Amelia that there is a plot afoot to harm Evelyn.

The Academy: A Short Story

Quitting her job as a high school science teacher to join the Seattle Police Department was an easy decision for Tracy Crosswhite. Years earlier, what should have been one of the happiest days of her life instead became her worst nightmare when her younger sister, Sarah, disappeared. After the murder trial, while her family disintegrated, Tracy turned her heartbreak and her lingering questions into a passion for justice.

Cold Frame

In Cold Frame, the dramatic new thriller by P. T. Deutermann, a secret committee of government and civilian officials maintains a list known as the Kill List, which targets overseas threats to America for termination. When a senior bureaucrat who is part of the Kill List process dies in Washington under mysterious circumstances that include a beautiful woman, a glass of wine, and a bouquet of flowers, Metro detective Av Smith is tasked to investigate.

The Escape Artist

Susanna Miller loses custody of her 11-month-old son, Tyler, but rather than turning the little boy over to her ex-husband and his new wife, she goes on the run. She dyes her hair, changes her name and escapes from Boulder, Colorado, leaving behind everyone she knows, including Linc Sebastian, the man who has been her best friend since childhood and who knows her better than anyone. Susanna lands in Annapolis, Maryland, alone, frightened, and always looking over her shoulder for someone who might recognize her. Just as she's beginning to feel safe in her new surroundings, she stumbles across information that could save the lives of many people....

Invisible

Everyone thinks Emmy Dockery is crazy. Obsessed with finding the link between hundreds of unsolved cases, Emmy has taken leave from her job as an FBI researcher. Now all she has are the newspaper clippings that wallpaper her bedroom, and her recurring nightmares of an all-consuming fire. Not even Emmy's ex-boyfriend, field agent Harrison "Books" Bookman, will believe her that hundreds of kidnappings, rapes, and murders are all connected.

PerryMartinBookReviews says:"Does a serial killer exist if no one knows?"

Fathomless

In Fathomless, the greatest predator the world has ever known is coming home in 2016. Carcharodon megalodon. The largest and most fearsome predator to have ever existed on our planet. Rumours of its existence in our modern oceans have persisted for centuries. Now, in a new adventure, the rumours explode into brutal and terrifying reality in Fathomless, by Greig Beck.

Dying to Please

Loyal. Beautiful. Professional. Impeccably organized. Potentially lethal. Sarah Stevens is a woman with many distinct qualities. First and foremost a butler par excellence, skilled at running large households smoothly and efficiently, she is also a trained bodyguard and expert marksman - indispensable to her elderly employer, a courtly gentleman Sarah has come to respect and love. But her perfectly ordered life is shattered when tragedy strikes.

The Oath

National best-selling author Frank Peretti is an undisputed master of supernatural thrillers. The Oath has sold nearly a million copies and won the ECPA Gold Medallion Award for best fiction. When a nature photographer is killed and mutilated while camping, common sense points to a rogue bear on the prowl. But the search for answers uncovers a century of sin-and a beast of ghastly power. Filled with chilling suspense and unforgettable imagery, The Oath is an epic tale of good versus evil.

Publisher's Summary

Only a handful of fictional characters are recognized by first name alone. Dean Koontz's Odd Thomas is one such literary hero who has come alive in listeners' imaginations as he explores the greatest mysteries of this world and the next with his inimitable wit, heart, and quiet gallantry. Now Koontz follows Odd as he is irresistibly drawn onward, to a destiny he cannot imagine.

The legend began in the obscure little town of Pico Mundo. A fry cook named Odd was rumored to have the extraordinary ability to communicate with the dead. Through tragedy and triumph, exhilaration and heartbreak, word of Odd Thomas' gifts filtered far beyond Pico Mundo, attracting unforgettable new friends - and enemies of implacable evil. With great gifts comes the responsibility to meet great challenges. But no mere human being was ever meant to face the darkness that now stalks the world - not even one as oddly special as Odd Thomas.

After grappling with the very essence of reality itself, after finding the veil separating him from his soul mate, Stormy Llewellyn, tantalizingly thin yet impenetrable, Odd longed only to return to a life of quiet anonymity with his two otherworldly sidekicks - his dog Boo and a new companion, one of the few who might rival his old pal Elvis. But a true hero, however humble, must persevere. Haunted by dreams of an all-encompassing red tide, Odd is pulled inexorably to the sea, to a small California coastal town where nothing is as it seems. Now the forces arrayed against him have both official sanction and an infinitely more sinister authority...and in this dark night of the soul, dawn will come only after the most shattering revelations of all.

Any book by Koontz sells well and any book with Odd as the main character sells well, but Koontz may have shot himself in the foot with this half a** attempt. I believe Koontz is getting tired of this character and it shows in his writing. Odd mentions more then once that he would like to die and I believe Koontz would like to kill him off, if only he did not sell so well.

The story starts off on a beach where Odd is attack by some bad guys. It takes him eight chapters to get off the beach. Most of the book is filler. Toward the end our gun hating hero, uses a gun and kills several people, some point blank. At one point he bravely stands still while a bad guy takes three shots at him, like he is superman. It seemed very out of character for Odd to use a gun and I believe it was just a easy way for Koontz to get his character out of trouble, so he compromised the character's character.

In chapter 46 there is an exchange between Odd and a bad guy that is roll on the ground funny, but this is about the only place in the book where there is any levity.

This is the fourth book in the series, but you can read them in any order. My favorite in the series is Forever Odd.

Koontz has written some really great stuff and my favorites are: The Bad Place, Lost Souls, Life Expectancy, Dragon Tears, and By The Light of The Moon.

I've read Koontz for a very long time, and although the narration quality is excellent, the book itself is lacking. I'm wondering if the publisher got greedy and split the book with another one coming soon. Lots of unanswered questions and it leaves you hanging. With under an hour left, it just wraps up so quick it is tough to believe. The first Odd Thomas is the best, the second was okay and this one is lacking.

Disappointing. Odd doesn't have his usual reliable sidekick to elicit his quirky personality. The heroine adds little to the story. She is absent during most of Odd's journey and she responds to questions with answers such as, "What will be, will be." I found her more irritating than mysterious. Also, rather than outwitting his nemeses, Odd, though exhibiting remorse, escapes peril by killing them off. This is a departure from the Odd of the Monastery. One can only suppose that the writer resorted to surmounting quests in such fashion to meet a publishing deadline or perhaps to offer a substandard tidbit to satisfy those of us who greedily demanded more Odd, now rather than later. With questions left unanswered, this undoubtedly is a pre-quel to the next Odd iteration.

I started this series with Odd Thomas and have enjoyed each one that followed, but honestly this last one was not my favorite. Odd is a very endearing character and after the first book you have developed a true affection for him and what he has been through. The mix of seriousness and humor is wonderful, and David Aaron Baker is a great narrator, after 4 books clearly the voice of Odd Thomas.
In each book there is some evil to be faced, and maybe the evil in Odd Hours is just more difficult for me to accept. I'm hoping that Koontz has more adventures for Odd. I'd hate to see such a good character go out on what I feel is the weakest of the 4 novels so far.

Take any Odd Thomas book, make it shorter, act like you're tired of the character, the formula and the spirit of the thing - and you have what appears to be DK's feelings about this one. It felt rushed. Abridged. Like TV instead of a nice visit with OThomas. Then again, I haven't found anything much better lately either... so it could have been worse.

I've listened to all of the other Odd books and loved them. This book, to me, was a great disappointment. It lacked some of the supernatural aspects that I liked in past. It also was not as suspenseful. This book would start to elevate me with excitement and at about the 3/4 mark to climax it would drop me again and again. On a good note, there was enough in this book to keep me interested from beginning to bad ending. Hopefully the next will be better.

The first book in the series was mostly stripped of needless description and flowery passages of alliteration. Not so this one. The first hour is spent describing one scene on and underneath a pier. I laughed out loud at some of the endless verbiage(and not in a good way-the "story" never seemed to start) until I gave up counting all the times three adjectives were used when one would have been sufficient. I gave this two stars out of sentimentality toward the character and the excellent narrator. Where was the editor of this book, in Bermuda? Heaven forbid this IS the edited version.